A marker suitable for sex-typing birds from degraded samples

A new primer set was developed for sex-typing birds, Z37B. This primer set was designed to amplify alleles of small size to render it suitable for sex-typing degraded samples, including shed feathers. This marker successfully sex-typed 50% of the species tested, including passerines, shorebirds, rails, seabirds, eagles and the brown kiwi Apteryx australis (allele size range = 81–103 bp), and is therefore expected to be suitable for sex-typing a wide range of species. Z37B sex-typed non-degraded samples (blood), degraded tissue (dead unhatched embryos, dead nestlings and museum specimens) and samples of low quantity DNA (plucked feathers and buccal swabs). The small amplicon sizes in birds suggest that this marker will be of utility for sex-typing feathers, swabs and degraded samples from a wide range of avian species.